Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cabbage Sprouts
Ingredients
Directions
Pick and wash the cabbage sprouts.
In a pan, brown the butter and sugar together.
Add the sprouts to the pan and cook until tender.
Pour rich soup over the sprouts while cooking.
Dredge the sprouts with meal once they are tender.
Continue to pour more soup over the sprouts until juicy.
Serve with a side dish.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cabbage + buttertop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,397 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Cabbage + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,037 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Potatofits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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